So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Edward]

There are some names that parents give their babies that they simply never think through. The child has to grow up with that tag and if it's anything like the poor little soul on a news report last night, it will be changed as soon as that child becomes old enough to do so. The baby was named: Urhyness (pronounced "your highness")

What cracked me up was the way the interview went, talking about Urhyness as though it was an everyday name, seriously. Thankfully, my name of Robert was never shortened to Bob or Bobby, but it was often cited as ROBERT!!! That's when I knew that I was in deep doo-doo.

First tiem I've heard that particular one. Names like Duke, Prince, Queen and so on have been popular for some time in some traditionally less privileged communities - the notion behind it is that they may be much lessl ikely to be givne those titles in life, but they deserve them no less just because of their community background. It does seen strange from the outside, but I find I appreciate it more knowing the reasoning.

 

[Edward]

There are some names that parents give their babies that they simply never think through. The child has to grow up with that tag and if it's anything like the poor little soul on a news report last night, it will be changed as soon as that child becomes old enough to do so. The baby was named: Urhyness (pronounced "your highness")

What cracked me up was the way the interview went, talking about Urhyness as though it was an everyday name, seriously. Thankfully, my name of Robert was never shortened to Bob or Bobby, but it was often cited as ROBERT!!! That's when I knew that I was in deep doo-doo.

First tiem I've heard that particular one. Names like Duke, Prince, Queen and so on have been popular for some time in some traditionally less privileged communities - the notion behind it is that they may be much lessl ikely to be givne those titles in life, but they deserve them no less just because of their community background. It does seen strange from the outside, but I find I appreciate it more knowing the reasoning.

 

[Hercule]

I could tell a similar story. . .

I'm sure similar stories abound with regard to postal carriers. From their stand point I can understand golng out on a limb and taking a chance to cut a corner. It seems that they are often hounded by supervisors and auditors to speed things up. But when you're caught, man up and admit it and don't do it again. The whole thing could have been avoided with and apology and a promise not to do it again. Who know's where it'll go from here. A case number has been assigned so it isn't going away until officially resolved. In my opinion he sure risked a lot, namely his job (though probably not so likely given how things are these days) by lying about it. We've since gotten Ring for our doorbell, so we'll have a video record of any activity near the mailbox, including off-roading mailmen.

 

[Trenchfriend]

AAAAAH, everytime, I'm removing and washing the cover of my (visco foam) topper, I'm again reminded, that despite the cover is removable and washable regulary, the whole "construction" isn't practically designed to do this!!

Because, when you remove the cover, the bare visco foam mat, equally if rolled or not, is extending to all sides, when you move it! And when you put the topper together, you have to "shrink" the visco foam mat again, meaning going on all fours and "groping" with your hands all over the mat until all sides are again short enough to close the cover!

FUN!!

PS:
Normally, I don't need a topper, but my actual Futon matress is sadly too hard and this middle-class quality topper really does the softening job.

 

[tonyb]

I'm sure similar stories abound with regard to postal carriers. From their stand point I can understand golng out on a limb and taking a chance to cut a corner. It seems that they are often hounded by supervisors and auditors to speed things up. But when you're caught, man up and admit it and don't do it again. The whole thing could have been avoided with and apology and a promise not to do it again. Who know's where it'll go from here. A case number has been assigned so it isn't going away until officially resolved. In my opinion he sure risked a lot, namely his job (though probably not so likely given how things are these days) by lying about it. We've since gotten Ring for our doorbell, so we'll have a video record of any activity near the mailbox, including off-roading mailmen.

I’m reminded of a fairly recent TV news item on hotel bed sheets not being changed between guests. The news crew used a water-soluble paint invisible to the naked eye but visible under UV light to write “I Slept Here” on the bottom sheet. A crew member booked the same room (but under a different name) for the following night. Sure enough, the UV light showed that the sheets hadn’t been changed.

Child of the struggling class as I am, my first thought was that the housekeeper was under pressure to turn over the rooms faster than reasonable. S/he saw that the bedding appeared clean so s/he just smoothed out the bed to save a minute or three in an attempt to keep the overseer off her or his ass.

 

[GHT]

First tiem I've heard that particular one. Names like Duke, Prince, Queen and so on have been popular for some time in some traditionally less privileged communities - the notion behind it is that they may be much lessl ikely to be givne those titles in life, but they deserve them no less just because of their community background. It does seen strange from the outside, but I find I appreciate it more knowing the reasoning.

What a valid point, it's easy to be judgemental but as you say, knowing the reason why helps to one to appreciate others motives.

My wife and I have been without a landline for the last two weeks, it's taken absolutely ages for the engineers to discover that a street tree has been chaffing the phone line. A new cable fitted today has put us back into the community.
We have cell phones, but being in a rural area the signal is very much a case of hit and miss.

 

[Edward]

What a valid point, it's easy to be judgemental but as you say, knowing the reason why helps to one to appreciate others motives.

My wife and I have been without a landline for the last two weeks, it's taken absolutely ages for the engineers to discover that a street tree has been chaffing the phone line. A new cable fitted today has put us back into the community.
We have cell phones, but being in a rural area the signal is very much a case of hit and miss.

I remember the first time the web went down in the office for half a day - there was very little we could do then, and even less now. Such a wonderful tool ,and yet it can also be quite frightening to realise how dependent we are on it in the modern world.

 

[tonyb]

I remember the first time the web went down in the office for half a day - there was very little we could do then, and even less now. Such a wonderful tool ,and yet it can also be quite frightening to realise how dependent we are on it in the modern world.

And consider what an autocrat might do with a medium through which nearly all information is transmitted.

 

[belfastboy]

First tiem I've heard that particular one. Names like Duke, Prince, Queen and so on have been popular for some time in some traditionally less privileged communities - the notion behind it is that they may be much lessl ikely to be givne those titles in life, but they deserve them no less just because of their community background. It does seen strange from the outside, but I find I appreciate it more knowing the reasoning.

There is a 'thing' in African culture where they give their children a name that may direct their future. Often it reflects the occupation the parent's wish for their child or a quality they wish them to possess. Not a bad practice unless the father has a weird sense of humour......

 

[Edward]

And consider what an autocrat might do with a medium through which nearly all information is transmitted.

Yes, this is why our European Convention on Human Rights enshrines in the freedom of expression provision "the right to receive information from a wide variety of sources". AS with the other rights, the intention being that if the state holds to them, a Nazi state can't happen again. Of course, that was the public take; there was also an unspoken fear that Soviet totalitarianism might spill Westwards also.

 

[Hercule]

Should have been a trivial annoyance but it isn't now and I am VERY upset over it. . . .

Update: After having heard nothing since my initial report to the Post Office and the assignment of a case number 8 days ago, I just this morning received an email inviting me to complete a survey giving feedback on the service I received on my case. I can't imagine what that service could possibly be. I never heard anything back about the status or the outcome of their investigation into the incident. Wife says don't do the survey and just let it be. I agree.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And consider what an autocrat might do with a medium through which nearly all information is transmitted.

And consider how fragile that medium is from a technical point of view. When the apocalypse comes, people will pine for the foolproof reliability of simple AM radio.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

And consider how fragile that medium is from a technical point of view. When the apocalypse comes, people will pine for the foolproof reliability of simple AM radio.

Well if it's the apocalypse, there won't be any broadcasts, there won't be any electrickery & if it's a good apocalypse, there shouldn't be any listeners left anyway.

 

[Edward]

And consider how fragile that medium is from a technical point of view. When the apocalypse comes, people will pine for the foolproof reliability of simple AM radio.

Mn. The theory of the decentralised network is fine, but a lot depewnds on how many nodes get taken out. IN a landmass as big as the US or Russia, soem areas could survive and carry on; a small place like the UK would be wiped out - and could, with fallout and nuclear Winter, take some of its near neighbours with it.

 

[MisterCairo]

Mn. The theory of the decentralised network is fine, but a lot depewnds on how many nodes get taken out. IN a landmass as big as the US or Russia, soem areas could survive and carry on; a small place like the UK would be wiped out - and could, with fallout and nuclear Winter, take some of its near neighbours with it.

Reminds me of the 1980s nuclear apocalypse movie "Threads" we saw in high school. Economics class, in fact. If memory serves, it started out showing the EMP from a near-orbital burst, causing the electrics to short out. Then a woman peeing herself in terror as the first blast is witnessed. Sheffield, I think it was.

A female classmate had nightmares for weeks.

 

[Edward]

Reminds me of the 1980s nuclear apocalypse movie "Threads" we saw in high school. Economics class, in fact. If memory serves, it started out showing the EMP from a near-orbital burst, causing the electrics to short out. Then a woman peeing herself in terror as the first blast is witnessed. Sheffield, I think it was.

A female classmate had nightmares for weeks.

Yep. Sheffield. It was produced as aserious drama, first in 1983, and was based on the predictions of a whole host of experts in military, science, sociology and anthropology. The documentary and discussion on the ethics of nuclear weaponry that followed the inital screening is, I believe, still on Youtube. THreads: After the Bomb (to give it itsw full title) was repeated on television in August 1984, when I, as a nine year old, saw it in the television room of a caravan site in Scotland. It gave me the absolute willies for months... I later went through a period of borderline obsession about a looming nuclear war. The complete breakdown of society in the UK is very realistic - not least because it would have been fairly easy to achieve with a realtively small striek, given landmass size. For reference, if the TRident Sub based in Scotland went up, the entirety of Scotland would be more than covered by its blast zone. (One reason it's so unpopular in Scotland in all bar the very localised area where it brings a lot of employment.)

Threads is a dramatic classic that - subject matter completely aside- deserves far more recognition that it got.

 

[GHT]

Yep. Sheffield. It was produced as aserious drama, first in 1983, and was based on the predictions of a whole host of experts in military, science, sociology and anthropology. The documentary and discussion on the ethics of nuclear weaponry that followed the inital screening is, I believe, still on Youtube. THreads: After the Bomb (to give it itsw full title) was repeated on television in August 1984, when I, as a nine year old, saw it in the television room of a caravan site in Scotland. It gave me the absolute willies for months...

Back in the Fifties we had what was known as, "The Four Minute Warning." The four-minute warning was a public alert system conceived by the British Government during the Cold War. The name derived from the approximate length of time from the point at which a Soviet nuclear missile attack against the United Kingdom could be confirmed and the impact of those missiles on their targets. The population was to be notified by means of air raid sirens, television and radio, and urged to seek cover immediately. In practice, the warning would have been more likely three minutes or less.

We had air raid shelter practice at school, it dawned on most of us that, actually, the best place to be was at the epicentre of the explosion. Surviving a nuclear explosion would just be the start, Armageddon would soon follow, if the bomb hadn't destroyed everything beforehand. Word must have reached the ears of the teachers at the Catholic school I attended, a day or so later we were lectured on doing our utmost to try to survive, had we not done so, our deaths would have been tantamount to suicide and that, in Catholic doctrine, is a mortal sin. And off to Hades we would go.
Who remembers: "Schooldays, the happiest days of your life?" That's what we were taught.

 

[Zombie_61]

I remember participating in one, and only one, "The world is coming to an end, the bombs are dropping, and the only thing that can possibly keep you alive is hiding under this piece of **** bought-on-a-budget desk that will act as kindling to make sure you kids ignite faster" drill when I was in elementary school. I'm pretty sure the only thing anyone learned that day was that the desks were too small for two elementary school students to take shelter under at the same time.

 

[EngProf]

I spent the early years of my life in Detroit - one of the prime nuclear targets in the whole country, and we had regular "duck-and-cover" drills.
I guess we accepted at the time that it would do some good, but obviously later knew better.
The best part of the Civil Defense stuff was that all school kids were issued little plastic ID tags with our name, rank, and serial number on them. The best part was that all around the edge was printed our blood type. Since I am A-positive, my tag had "A+" all around it.
I told my pals that we had been graded by the Government and I was rated "A+".
I literally had not thought of it until today, but maybe since the tag was made of plastic, if we were far enough away from the blast that the tag didn't melt, we still might be candidates for a blood transfusion.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The town where I grew up supplied all the jet fuel via pipeline to Loring AFB, the easternmost base for B-52 bombers. We were told that if war came, we weren't going to survive, and that was pretty much it. Kinda took away a lot of the anxiety, but I did think it just pointed up the utter pointlessness of the whole enterprise.